


A Fateful Interaction

by Yass_Rani



Series: The Padmaavat Saga [1]
Category: Padmaavat (2018)
Genre: F/M, M/M, angsty oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25463026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yass_Rani/pseuds/Yass_Rani
Summary: Padmaavati, Malik Kafur and Mehrunnisa run into each otherPrompt: “Malik Kafur, Padmaavati and Mehrunnisa interact, at any point during the movie.”
Relationships: Alauddin Khilji/Mehrunissa (Padmaavat 2018), Malik Kafur/Alauddin Khilji (Padmaavat 2018), Padmavati/Ratan Singh (Padmaavat 2018)
Series: The Padmaavat Saga [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1889845
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	A Fateful Interaction

Padmaavati’s conditions, on first glance, seemed reasonable – quite meek, even. Malik leaned on the guru’s shoulder as he read out the letter from Chittor, quietly observing as if to catch anything out of the ordinary.

“She would bring eight hundred of her maids along with her.

They would have to be put up in the women’s quarters, where no man would enter.

Upon her arrival, she would meet the King first and only then, after he was released, would she meet the Sultan.

She would not leave Chittor until Raghav Chetan’s severed head was delivered to her.”

As Raghav snickered at the last condition, Malik joined in too, followed by Alauddin for a _very_ different reason, their chuckling growing into laughs as the emperor agreed to the last condition, his smug smile unwavering as Chetan’s laugh bubbled down to a nervous chuckle when he heard the affirmation.

Just to humour him, Malik let him plead to the Sultan for a moment – and just as Khilji rumbled out his agreement in a low, dangerous voice, he dragged the petrified brahmin off to carry out his set task.

The rest of the conditions seemed reasonable, on first glance, but the longer Kafur thought about them, the more his brows furrowed – something was scratching at his senses. Something didn’t seem right and he was going to figure out what it was, because the only thing the Sultan wanted these days was Padmaavati and god forbid she slipped off, he’d never see a satisfied smile on his emperor’s face again.

\---

The king’s first wife, Nagmati, had voiced her concerns – yet, Padmaavati had decided she would show Alauddin Khilji how virtuous the Rajput people were and get her husband back, both at the same time. Two birds killed by a single arrow, so to speak.

She’d left Chittor as soon as Alauddin’s reply reached her, informing her that he’d accepted all her conditions, including the severed head of the traitor, Raghav Chetan.

Her caravan wove through the lands connecting Mewar to Delhi, as she sat in her palanquin, looking at the indecisively cloudy sky which seemed as if it reflected her own feelings – confident in her decisions, yet conflicted as her husband’s life was at stake; not to mention her family’s virtues, if Alauddin got to her before she carried out her plans.

\---

Mehrunnisa sat in the corner of the Sultan’s bedroom, quietly praying.

Praying for her husband’s health – to get better, or to get worse, she herself did not know.

By duty, she had to pray for his good health after he was shot the previous night in one of his ridiculous parties – as the Sultan’s wife, she prayed for his health and wellbeing, but as Alauddin Khilji’s wife, well, she wasn’t sure anymore.

She loved him. Albeit all of his cheating and promiscuity, she loved him, but Padmaavati felt like the last straw. She’d stayed quiet when he went off gallivanting with every woman in his sight, from the lowest maids to the richest kingdoms’ princesses, but Padmaavati, a married woman, a queen, a _myth_ from some banished priest felt like the last straw; and she wasn’t even shocked to find herself wishing that Khilji would never be able to see her.

She wasn’t shocked, she wasn’t happy, she wasn’t scared, or maybe she was, she didn’t even know what she was feeling.

 _Numb._ That’s all she felt even as her husband choked her nephew to death, tears threatening to fall but ever obediently disappearing as she stared unblinkingly at the scene in front of her.

\---

Padmaavati stood in her tent for the night, her voice unwavering as she disclosed her plan to the commander-in-chief, Gora Singh, as she covered a map of Khilji’s fort with a layer of dark vermillion.

\---

“ _Sultan!_ ”

Malik’s rugged voice rang through the emperor’s chambers as he sprinted to the bedroom, falling at the Sultan’s feet to congratulate him on account of Padmaavati’s arrival the next morning.

\---

Mehrunnisa’s heart thudded against her chest as she heard Alauddin’s pleased voice at Malik’s announcement. Determined to not show her emotions, she pursed her lips slightly and kept braiding her husband’s hair without a single hitch in her movements to show that she reacted in any way.

However-

“No, you will not. In the absence of the Sultan, I will look after Padmaavati,” she countered with the servant’s offer to attend to Padmaavati, adding with a smile, “If the Sultan wishes so.”

To which he agreed immediately. Most faithful servant or not, he wanted no man near the Queen and Mehrunnisa knew it; and she’d seized the opportunity without Alauddin realizing what she’d been thinking – and it didn’t seem like Malik looked too into it either, he was busy taunting her softly with remarks on the irony of an empress welcoming her husband’s latest obsession.

\---

Padmaavati’s caravan arrived at the Khilji fort just as the morning prayer started and the entire place was empty except for the women’s quarters and a couple spare guards.

Mehrunnisa walked across the halls, informing a servant to let Padmaavati know she would be received by the Empress herself – while dreading the meeting itself. She wanted to know if the stories were true, if the queen was indeed as beautiful as they said she would be, but she really didn’t want to be face to face with the first woman her husband was that mad about after herself.

The Empress took a deep breath and swallowed hard, her anticipation shooting through clouds as Padmaavati stepped out of the palanquin.

They were right. She was just as beautiful and mesmerizing as Raghav Chetan had said, even more so – and Mehrunnisa was starstruck by her beauty, her lips falling open in silent awe as she greeted the Queen of Chittor.

“You are the light of heaven. Angels themselves could change their hearts if they set sight upon you, the Sultan is but just a man,” she said, receiving a stoic glare in return.

“And a criminal too,” Padmaavati said, eyes blazing with a mix of power, confidence, pity and respect, knowing that the woman before her was just as powerful as she was, just more oppressed in a man’s world, part of the reason being herself.

Her voice unwavering, she expressed no outwardly emotion as she informed the Empress that she would meet the Sultan only after she met her husband and until then, she would have her trusted soldiers with her.

Mehrunnisa bowed slightly in agreement and turned around, prompting the Rajputs to follow her into the palace.

\---

As Mehrunnisa stepped out to greet the queen, Malik prepared the throne room.

He helped the Sultan up to his throne as the emperor barked orders at him about not being disturbed and wanting everything to be perfect for the meeting with Padmaavati.

However, even though he assured the Sultan multiple times that everything was fine and would go just as he wished, he couldn’t help but feel like something was about to happen – and he didn’t like it.

\---

The lamps flickered in the darkness, creating shadows on the damp walls of the dungeon, as Mehrunnisa and Padmaavati stepped along with two soldiers towards Rawal Ratan Singh’s jail cell.

Padmaavati’s stoic expression flickered and broke, tears welling up in her eyes when she saw her husband chained by his wrists, his head down and hair mussed, blood streaking his white robes.

“Rawal _sa_ ,” she called out softly, her chin trembling as the king seemed to snap out of a daze, furrowing his brows at her voice as if he thought he was hallucinating, before he looked up, eyes wide as he met Padmaavati’s soft gaze.

He asked her, soft at first, if Mewar had bowed down to the enemy, if Padmaavati had agreed to the Sultan’s conditions, receiving a subtle no in return, only to lash out at his wife to ask why she was here if that was not the case.

Barely flinching at his outburst, “To set you free,” Padmaavati said, strong on her decision to save her husband from a decision “Mewar needs you.”

At her request to set him free, Mehrunnisa sent the only guard in the dungeon to inform Khilji she would be arriving with Padmaavati soon, leaving no one else except herself, Padmaavati, Rawal and their two guards in the musty cellar.

“We don’t have much time,” Mehrunnisa spoke as she worked on unlocking the cell, “I’ll take you both to a secret tunnel, you can leave the fort that way,” she said.

Padmaavati turned to her, eyes wide in shock. She found it hard to believe that a woman who’d stuck with her husband through years of his shameless infidelity and crimes would take a stand to prevent it happening again, even at the expense of her own life.

But all her doubts were cleared with the Empress’ reply, “I am doing this for myself. I’m saving my Sultan from committing a heinous crime.”

Padmaavati was left speechless, hoping her gratitude would somehow reach Mehrunnisa, who simply nodded and warned them to hurry up before Khilji’s guards come back, dismissing Rawal’s protests about wanting to see Khilji before he left, in favour of saving everyone’s lives over his morals.

Which went unheeded.

While the king and his soldiers went off to meet Khilji, he told Padmaavati to leave through the tunnel, and he would join with the others later – Mehrunnisa was trusty enough to be alone with.

\---

Despite her mind screaming at her to rush behind her husband and drag him back, Padmaavati shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind as she followed Mehrunnisa towards the tunnel. All her instincts made her feel like something was wrong, but she chalked it up to the fact that Rawal made a bad decision and she was probably just worried, and continued behind the empress.

Until a voice sounded from the darkness of the prison walls, right between the women and the entrance of the tunnel, causing Mehrunnisa to freeze and inhale sharply. Padmaavati’s instincts were never stronger than now – she was desperately fighting the urge to turn and _sprint_ the other way because the voice she just heard sounded worse than potentially running into Khilji.

“Ah, Mallika-e-Jahaan,” the man spoke, sauntering out of the shadows with a way too smug smirk to both the women’s liking. “I hope you are taking the lady Padmaavati to Khilji, as discussed…”

He paused to consider Padmaavati with a lazy eye, noting that she’d put up her pallu the moment she heard his voice, before continuing with the same teasing tone. “Or maybe the Empress had _other_ plans?”

“Leave, Kafur. You answer to your Sultan, and you have no power over me. Leave, and never mention this,” Mehrunnisa said, her sharp, quick breaths doing nothing to ease Padmaavati’s confusion on fear, “I will talk to him. Go away.”

Malik grinned, displaying pearly white teeth as he slithered over, closer to the empress, causing Padmaavati to instinctually take a step backwards. He considered her offer for a moment, cocking his head to the side to ponder over it.

Khilji was obsessed with the Rajput queen and he seemed like he would stop at nothing to get to her, and the moment he came to know Kafur knew about her leaving and still did nothing, there was little doubt he would have the man’s head. Kafur also knew Mehrunnisa was already heartbroken with her husband lusting over a _married queen_ , and she was upset enough to further anger the emperor in case he _did_ help get him Padmaavati.

Malik Kafur grinned as he followed another, tiny voice in his head that whispered something else, something he was very much tempted to follow – and he did, fixing the apprehensive women in a smirk as he leaned against the wall, lips pursing in thought.

Because, on another hand, Kafur was also obsessed with the emperor, perhaps more than Khilji mooned over Padmaavati, and maybe, just _maybe_ if Padmaavati wasn’t here anymore, then…

He didn’t let himself think farther lest he stay there the whole day. He had to decide before the morning prayer ended, or before the Rajput king came back. And he had.

He knew what he would do. He knew it wasn’t the best option, but it was good enough for him.

He cocked his head towards the ceiling, blankly staring at Mehrunnisa’s thankful expression – Padmaavati noticed that the other woman was surprised at Malik’s decision, but said nothing – as the women rushed through to the tunnel, the empress sending the queen off. By the time Mehrunnisa walked back to the dungeon after Padmaavati was safe, Kafur was gone.

\---

Alauddin’s anguished roar boomed through the court’s walls as everyone cowered in fear, except Malik, who simply smirked at the emperor, who, thankfully, hadn’t known Malik was behind the little escapade the Rajputs had gotten away with.

He’d just talked to Mehrunnisa, who’d finally chosen to leave her husband when she realised he still wasn’t over Padmaavati and that he knew she had a hand in the escape. She’d wished him a good life, she’d finished her duty as a wife and now, she’d left to do what she had to as a woman – she went off to live her own life, maybe do some right work to compensate for at least a small bit of her husband’s wrongdoings, because however much she didn’t approve of his action, she was still the lovestruck teenager that was head over heels for her handsome, strong lover.

Although Khilji was, obviously, still obsessed with the queen, Malik knew what he did was for everyone’s best. Or at least that’s what he told himself when he felt a pang in his heart every time he saw the Sultan grumble about losing her when she was so close. The truth was why Kafur thought it was a good thing he did when he helped Padmaavati. It was a good thing, for him.

There would be one day when Khilji would be over her. Maybe there would be one day he saw Malik as more than a servant, or a soldier. For now, he would settle for giving his emperor everything he had, everything he was asked of, everything except the one thing that would make Khilji forget him. Everything except Padmaavati. He’d spend his entire life doing things for his emperor if that meant it would compensate for letting Padmaavati go and if that meant he finally started looking at the man in front of him as maybe, maybe even a lover.

Maybe one day, Khilji would love him as ardently as he’d loved Mehrunnisa, and as passionately as he loved Padmaavati, and he would wait forever for that day.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Please like and leave comments, I appreciate everything! You can message me or send an ask to be tagged or send in a prompt. Main masterlist and request list are linked in bio on Tumblr: yass-rani


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